HTLP60 vs HTLP80 - What is the Difference?

HTLP60 vs HTLP80

     I get a lot of technical questions emailed to me via this blog...and via our website (www.heatshrinksleeves.com).  These questions come from all over the world. Here is a recent questions I've received from India:

Sir,
What is the difference between HTLP60 and HTLP80?  I am writing the specification for a 6" pipeline and I need to know which product you would recommend and why.

     Obviously, not a lot of information there!  Now, I know that if this project will never become an order for me.  I don't sell material into India and to the best of my knowledge (somewhat limited); Covalence has excellent coverage in terms of sales effort and distribution in India.  But, I am still thrilled that I get to be a part of the process here by sharing my product knowledge and information.  Our business is shrink sleeves.  I've been selling and studying nothing shrink sleeves for 13 years.  My father has been selling and studying shrink sleeves for 30+ years.  In a sense, I've been around "shrink sleeves" either as a profession...or as a witness to household discussions...or tagging along with my Dad to a job site when a vacation was disrupted...or working in production (cutting, bonding and processing shrink sleeves) as a high school student - for almost my entire life (my Dad went to work for Raychem when I was ~4 years old and I'm 42 now).

     When you're sharing knowledge about a product that you believe in; it is fun.  When you're helping to answer a simple question that someone has been trying to track down an answer to for weeks (which happens a lot - phone calls unanswered - referrals to disconnected phone numbers - referrals to people with no product knowledge - etc - etc) - the relief in their voice when they can finally get the answer to a simple technical question is very rewarding.  It is nice to be needed!

     In any case, all of that to say:  I'm thrilled when I get to answer technical questions and offer technical assistance - even when there is no chance of me personally getting any business.  I believe in this Covalence product line (formerly Raychem).

     So here is my answer to the question "what is the difference between HTLP60 and HTLP80?":

Dear Sir,
Thank you for the inquiry.  The basic difference between HTLP60 and HTLP80 is very simple:
HTLP60 utilizes an adhesive that is designed to withstand a continuous pipeline operating temperature of 60C or below.
HTLP80 utilizes an adhesive that is designed to withstand a continuous pipeline operating temperature of 80C or below.

Both are components of a three layer field joint coating system that utilizes a two part epoxy as one of the components of the system.  It is important that the epoxy used be a Covalence(formerly Raychem) epoxy that has been specifically designed to work in conjunction with the HTLP adhesives (generally the S1301M epoxy can be used with either as it is rated to 80C -- the S1239 can be used only with the HTLP60 as it is rated only to 60C).

There are some (what I would consider fairly minor) technical differences in the product performance as can be seen at our website (www.heatshrinksleeves.com).  Both products have a long successful use history.  Both products are proven. 

I'm happy to help you determine the specific part number that I would recommend for this project - but I would need to know:

- pipeline operating temperature once it is in service (design temp)

- what is the factory applied mainline coating?

- what are the cutbacks on the mainline coating?

- will this be a buried line?

- what is the quantity of field joints that will be needed? (important as some products have a minimum order quantity)

If you can answer some of those questions - I am happy to continue the dialogue!

Raychem Shrink Sleeves

Raychem Shrink Sleeves - WCSM Tubing

     I don't mention it much here, but in addition to being Master Distributors for Covalence Heat Shrink Sleeves -- and Distributors for Denso Corrosion Prevention Products (which includes Protal 7200) -- and being distributors for Powercrete J; we are also Elite Distributors for Raychem / Tyco Electronics.  

     Once part of the same company, Raychem Energy and Raychem Pipeline were two divisions underneath the giant (and magical) company that was Raychem Corp.  As Raychem was broken apart; Raychem Pipeline and Raychem Energy ultimately ended up being owned by different companies (Raychem Pipeline now ultimately owned by Berry Plastics as a division of Seal for Life and Raychem Energy now owned by Tyco Electronics).  As a result - there is a LOT of confusion about this topic, if you're interested, here is a slightly more thorough explanation of the history of Raychem Corp as a brand name.

     Taking a quick closer look at the pipeline side of things, none of the owners of the Raychem brand name ever did a very good job of re-branding during the name change periods....so while just about everyone in the world knows the name Raychem as a leader in the world of Pipeline Coatings; the other names we've held don't have that same 'household name' status (Berry CPG, Covalence Raychem, Tyco Adhesives, Covalence, etc).  If you're looking for more information on what used to be Raychem Pipeline products - please fill out the box at the upper right of this blog - or visit the best shrink sleeve website on the planet (yes it is mine), or call us at 936/321-3333 or email me at steve@jsicoatings.com.

     Now, back to the topic at hand; if you're looking for Raychem Energy products (short list below) then you have successfully discovered JSI - an Elite Distributor for Raychem.  I don't write about it much here; but I do have a much smaller blog dedicated to writing about Raychem Energy products and you can give that a gander if you'd like. 

An example of some WCSM shrink tubing

        On the electrical side of things, the purpose of the product isn't so much 'corrosion prevention' (although sealing is a large factor for many of the products); instead, these products are designed to seal, protect and offer electrical insulation.  As you might expect, these products are generally designed for much smaller substrates than the pipeline products would be (with pipeline products being designed for use on pipelines 1" up through 150").  Electrical products are designed for cables, connectors, busbar, lighting wire, etc.  Have questions?  Contact us for questions about Raychem Pipeline Products or Raychem Energy Products - we can help!

Raychem | Raychm | Raycham | Rychem | Ray chem | Reychem| Rachem

Raychem Shrink Sleeves for Pipeline Use and Electrical Use

     Ok!  I know that is an awfully strange title for a post (up there) but this is really meant to serve as a public service announcement.  It seems that just about everyone in the world knows the Raychem name, but many people in the world are unfamiliar with the exact spelling of the name.  That makes sense of course - as Raychem isn't a "real word."  Instead it is a combination of the two words:  Radiation Chemistry.  Of course - based on that (or if you knew that), you would logically think that in that case, Raychem should be spelled Rachem (as some people do).  Well, you'd be incorrect -- but hopefully you'd still find it!

     "A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet."  Well, I think it could also said that a shrink sleeve system (whether for pipeline or electrical application) by any other name...is still as reliable, effective, dependable, available, cost effective and simple to install...."  Is that too long of a slogan for a business card?  I tend to think so.  

     So, if you've found this page because you searched for Raychem using one of the spellings listed above (Raychem, Raychm, Raycham, Rychem, Ray Chem, Reychem or Rachem) - then.....you are welcome!  I hope you haven't google surfed for too long before finding this page!

     Now - if you're here - you may be thinking "ok - thanks for the help...but who are you?" We are Joint Specialists (JSI Coatings).  We are an Elite Distributor for Raychem / Tyco Electronics products (which include hundreds of different products for energy, electrical, splicing, mining, lighting and sealing applications).  We are also a Master Distributor for Covalence Heat Shrinkable products - which was once Raychem's pipeline division (sold off a few times in the last decade or two).  In addition - we are distributors for the Denso line of products - which includes their radically popular Protal 7200 two part epoxy and other tapes, petrolatum tapes, etc for all kinds of sealing and corrosion prevention purposes.  

     We are ready, willing and eager to help you with any technical questions, pricing, quotations, projects or specification work that you might need.  So fill out that little box over there -- or call us at 936/321-3333 - or visit our product website at www.jsicoatings.com - or email me at steve@jsicoatings.com.  Don't waste any more of your time on google searches!!

    

Protol Epoxy for Pipelines

Protol 7200 Pipeline Epoxy

Protol Epoxy being hand applied to a 36" pipeline.

          For the last decade or more, two part epoxies like Protol 7200 have seen an increased market share as more and more end users (oil and gas companies) have selected two part epoxies as their coating of choice on pipeline field joints.  Protol offers excellent adhesion to properly prepared bare steel and the adjacent factory applied line coating (fusion bond epoxy).  It offers excellent Shore D hardness ratings, good flexibility and is highly resistant to soil stresses.  The truth is, there are many different technologies out on the market, and each has its own niche.  Each of these technologies is strong in some areas and sometimes weaker in another.  It really is like a universal game of rock-paper-scissors where we pit different pipe coatings against different pipeline and soil conditions!

   

     Epoxies like Protol do depend on an installer to properly prepare the surface, properly apply the epoxy (with no voids or air bubbles) and apply the epoxy in the proper coating thickness as required by the pipeline owner company's specification (please make sure your crews have a wet film gauge!!).  As more and more epoxies have been used in recent years, of course it is a natural trend that there are more and more pipeline crews out there who have experience properly applying it.  Protol is no longer considered to be a pioneer in the pipeline coatings world; Protol is now simply a proven product that has been used often and pipeline companies are collecting data on its performance for more than ten years now.  

     One big factor when coating your pipeline with an epoxy is going to be the cure time of the epoxy.  Protol has a very fast cure time which is good for a whole bunch of reasons that I won't list here (other than to say that coating a field joint and then having to wait 36 hours before burial can present some unique problems).  That fast cure time (and high build status) does mean that no matter how effective and efficient your pipeline field joint coating crew is, you will almost always end up with some epoxy cured in the bucket...wasted.  To attempt to keep that to a minimum, Protol is available in several different kit sizes:  1 Liter, 1.5 Liter, 2 Liter and even 75 Liter and 800 Liter (which would only be used in spray equipment). 

Heat Shrink Pipe Coating

Heat Shrink Pipe Coatings

     Heat shrink pipe coatings have been in use for more than four decades (along with heat shrink used for wire splicing, cable repair and many other applications).  For most of those decades, Raychem Corporation was THE industry leader in heat shrinkable technologies; led by their visionary leader: Paul Cook (who essentially commercialized and popularized radiation crosslinking and radiation chemistry).  The rest, as they say, is history. 

Here we see a field joint, just prior to heat shrink sleeve installation.

     Though the most obvious use for a heat shrink sleeve is on polyethylene coated pipe (as seen in the photo above), by far the most common pipeline coating combination is fusion bond epoxy (FBE) as the mainline pipeline coating and heat shrink sleeves as the field joint coating.  We sell (literally) hundreds of thousands of heat shrink sleeves per year - and I can honestly say that ~90% of those will be used on FBE coated pipelines. 

     When determining what specific heat shrink sleeve material to use on your pipeline girth welds (which is hopefully happening very early in the specification process...rather than happening while construction crew is standing on a pipeline spread staring down at some welded pipe joints....) it is important that you are making an informed decision.  There are number of factors that are very important...such as:

1. Pipeline operating temperature (once the line is in service - sometimes called Design Temp)
2. Outside Diameter of the pipeline (hopefully this is an easy one!)
3. Factory applied mainline pipeline coating and cutback sizes
4. Soil conditions (rocky? sandy? clay? subsea? above ground?)

     If we have access to that information, we have a good head start on making sure you are going to be using an appropriate material.  The fastest way to a coating / corrosion problem is to select and use an inappropriate product for your pipeline.  

Covalence Heat Shrink Tubing

Covalence Heat Shrink Tubing and Raychem Heat Shrink Tubing

     This can sometimes get a little bit confusing! I've written previously with a more thorough explanation of the history of Raychem as a brand name, so I will keep things a little bit simpler here.  What ultimately happened, is Raychem kept the name, factory and rights to all of the parts that are typically used in the electrical and energy world.  Covalence ended up with all of the rights to the products that are manufactured for the pipeline world.  As you might imagine, pipelines are typically larger than electrical cables; so ultimately it comes down to size.  Raychem heat shrink tubing is almost always smaller.  Covalence heat shrink tubing is almost always larger.

Covalence Heat Shrink Tubing

     The most commonly sold tubing manufactured by Covalence is the TPS shrink sleeve (stands for Tubular Pipe Sleeve).  This is a heat shrinkable, radiation crosslinked polyolefin backing; coated on the inside with an aggressive mastic sealant.  This mastic sealant bonds to all of the commonly used factory applied pipeline coatings.  TPS heat shrink sleeves are generally only made for pipelines for pipelines 2" thru 8".  This would cover pipe ODs: 2.375" (TPS 2375-18), 2.875" (TPS 2875-18), 3.500" (TPS 3500-18), 4.500" (TPS 4500-18), 6.625" (TPS 6625-18) and 8.625" (TPS 8625-18).  We do also sell TPS in a 9" length (as far as the nomenclature goes; just replace the "18" with a "9".  

The sleeve on the right is a TPS; tubular shrink sleeve

 

     Covalence also manufactures a CPSM shrink sleeve.  We stock the CPSM 195/102-1500-S which is a shrink tube supplied with an ID of 7.677" that will shrink all the way down to a substrate that is 4.01".  This tube is actually 4.92 feet long - so it can be used for a variety of different applications.  CPSM is a high expansion, heavy wall shrink tubing that is coated internally with a mastic sealant meaning that it will bond well to most all surfaces. 

Raychem Heat Shrink Tubing

     Raychem heat shrink tubing, on the other hand, is MUCH smaller - designed for electrical applications and rated for use on certain voltage levels.  WCSM is the most commonly sold shrink tubing: 

WCSM is sold in a variety of sizes; all designed for different wire and connector configurations

     For a more thorough explanation of the different WCSM sizes; visit our page dedicated to WCSM tubing.  WCSM is rated for use to 1000 volts and can be used as a jacket repair all the way up to 35 kV.  

Raychem manufactures dozens of other tubings.  For more information on any of them, visit the electrical blog or our JSI Coatings electrical section.

DIRAX 24" Wide

DIRAX Shrink Sleeves for Road Bore Pipe

DIREX / DIRAX

          I think it has been well established that pipe that is involved in a road bore is just about the 'scariest' pipe there is.  Here you have both a factory applied coating - and a field joint coating - that are installed and inspected, and then we wave goodbye to that section of pipe as it is dragged down into a deep hole and never seen again.  Sure, that pipe will have an inspection pig go through it.  Sure, that pipe will be covered by some kind of a CP system (and it will be possible to detect current load increases if a corrosion problem occurs), but really - once that pipe leaves the sunshine and enters the darkness; you are pretty much depending on those coatings to survive and do their job throughout the life of the pipeline.   If they are damaged during the bore; you won't know until it is far, far too late.  That's why you pay for expensive pipe coatings like Powercrete on top of FBE or dual layer FBE.  That's why you should consider a product like DIRAX for your field joints. 

This is the DIRAX shrink sleeve as supplied.  As it is shrunk, it looks even more like alligator skin and is just as tough!

     DIRAX is installed on top of our S1301M epoxy primer.  The epoxy has been specially formulated to bond both physically and chemically to the adhesive of the DIRAX shrink sleeve system.  It works.  When fully (and freely) recovered; the backing of the DIRAX is 2.3mm thick.  That includes a layer of fiber mesh woven between two layers of polyethylene (fiber reinforced is kind of a big deal).  DIRAX is sold as a kit, which includes the shrink sleeve for coating the field joint (in a 12", 17" or 24" width); S1301M Epoxy and a 3" wide leader strip.

     Now getting back to where we started...the DIRAX is installed on the field joint and it needs to be wide enough to coat all bare steel and overlap onto the factory applied ARO by at least two inches per side.  In many cases, this can use the 12" wide sleeve - but some users....some users who know how scary it is that a coating cannot truly be inspected after being involved in a road bore -- those users who believe that using the best possible coating is important enough to spend a little extra - those users typically use a 24" wide DIRAX.  They know that a few extra dollars on the front end of a pipeline project -- in order to avoid the incredibly costly replacements, spills, corrosion problems and damage - is well worth it (not to mention that you can't put a price tag on restful sleep at night!).  People who want the best use DIRAX.  People who are want to take their absolute best shot at coating that field joint in the best possible manor - use DIRAX in a 24" width. *


*Let me be 100% clear and forthcoming.  I know from experience that 12" wide and 17" wide DIRAX sleeves do exactly what they are supposed to do.  I know that they survive the bore without damage and without being displaced.  I know that they continue to offer corrosion protection to those field joints for the life of the pipeline.  I know it because it has been done -- thousands of times -- and the number of problems I've heard about is exactly ZERO.  Some people just like to be extra cautious - they want to be able to look back someday and say "I did EVERY POSSIBLE THING I COULD HAVE" - and there is nothing wrong with that.  It's natural in many cases.  Why do people wear a belt AND suspenders?  Why do cars have seat belts AND air bags?  Why do my jeans have a button AND a zipper (what ever happened to button fly jeans anyway?)  Why do we have a lock, and a dead lock, and a chain, and a security system on our homes?  Because being certain carries great value with it.

Heat Shrink Sleeves on Large OD Pipe?

     A "big" pipeline job has been floating around lately.  I don't mean "big" in the sense that it is a project that will ultimately end up as a nice sale -- I mean "big" as in "WOW that is big pipe!"  Honestly, the entire project would be fewer than ten shrink sleeves; so kind of unusual in its small-ness.  But the pipe that is needing a coating here is greater than 160" in inside diameter!  At 13.33 feet, just about any of you could actually drive your car through this pipe if you chose to!  You could hang a basketball goal in this pipe (and have shooting practice as long as you're firing flat shots).  The only people who could jump in that pipe and touch the top would be very tall world class athletes (I'm not even sure that Lebron James could touch the top!).

    In any case, when considering the question "can I use a shrink sleeve here" at the initial step, we are doing nothing more than simple mathematics.  A master roll of WPCT material (say 17" wide) comes to us in a 300 foot length.  If we turned that 300 feet roll of WPCT into a single shrink sleeve - it could wrap around a substrate that is:  (a 300 foot roll = 3600 inches) - 3600" / 3.14 = 1146.  Save some room (say 12" of room for the WPCT shrink sleeve to overlap onto itself and you would see that the shrink sleeve is actually large enough to wrap around a substrate that is 1146" (or) 95.5 feet OD!  That would be a big sleeve! 

     A pipe that large would raise a lot more questions than I have time to discuss here.  During the specification phase of the project we'd have to consider:  what is the weight of a pipe that large?  what sort of soil stresses would a pipe that large have associated with it?  what sort of pipe movement could we expect?  can the shrink sleeve backing handle that kind of weight without elongating?  is the mastic thickness of the shrink sleeve going to be displaced by that kind of weight?  etc, etc.  So - I'm not saying (please read that again) that WPCT would be an approved product on a 1140" OD pipeline - I'm simply saying that in some cases, the upper limits of a wrap around shrink sleeve is determined by the length of the master roll. 

Heat Shrink Sleeves as Pipeline Coatings

Heat Shrink Sleeves for Pipelines

    Heat shrinkable sleeves have been used for many years as the primary corrosion coating for field joints (also called girth welds) on pipelines.  Do you need a refresher on what girth welds and field joints are?  As I've documented elsewhere in this blog (WPCT use history) Raychem (now called Covalence) shrink sleeves have been the market leaders for decades.  There are very literally millions and millions of pipeline field joints coated with heat shrink sleeves and the truth (which some big spending, vocal spin doctors don't want you to know) is that heat shrinkable sleeves (Raychem in particular) have been incredibly reliable pipeline coatings.  Heat shrink sleeves have offered excellent corrosion prevention to pipelines of all sizes.  If you've seen the GTI field joint coating test results - then you know that what I'm saying is true.  Heat shrink sleeves were generally ranked #1 (tied with FBE) in both clay and sandy soil.  Yes, you read that correctly:  NUMBER 1.  Compare the equipment and labor costs of putting FBE on your pipeline field joints with the material and labor cost of putting a heat shrink sleeve on your field joint....then go read the GTI report....then go ask your buyers why you've been needlessly spending on field joint coating to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.

The front page of the amazingly thorough GTI field joint coating study

      I know what you're thinking if you've read this thread.  You're thinking "WHAT?  That can't be!"  I hate to break it to you, my friend...but it is true.  It is true - and its proven.  In case after case in that GTI study heat shrink sleeves ranked #1 and showed no signs of corrosion.  Meanwhile other "technologies" (I put the word technologies in quotes because some manufacturers out there are actually a lot better at marketing and story telling than they are at manufacturing quality pipeline coatings) performed so poorly in that GTI test that it is hard to understand how they sell anything!  But, I guess we've all known that advertising works -- that marketing works -- that if we hear something enough - we'll begin to believe it.  I think it was Lenin (the Russian; not the Beatle) who said "a lie told often enough becomes the truth."  

    If you're skeptical, contact GTI yourself and purchase your own copy of the report.  www.gastechnology.orgwww.gastechnology.org